16

Reymundo woke up early. He would rather lie in bed and watch Jana sleep, but the boat wasn’t going to maintain itself. He had work to do, so he eased out of bed, dressed, and went on deck.

Most of the trash from the “frat party” cruise was still on board. Reymundo refused to toss garbage overboard, no matter how insignificant. He’d just placed the third large bag of trash on the outside companionway when Jana appeared.

“Good morning,” she said.

“Good morning. You look great.”

“I feel good. I needed some good food and rest. I didn’t get much rest last night, but that’s okay.” She smiled and kissed Reymundo on the nose. “Hey, have you seen my phone? I haven’t checked it since they took me away.”

“It has to be around here. You had it before Rafael showed up. Right?”

“I did... Wait, I remember. I had just showered and dressed when they came banging on the door. After that, I never even thought about my phone. No one I wanted to call. You were here. Make some coffee, would you, dear?” Jana asked then disappeared down the steps.

Reymundo had her coffee ready for her when she returned.

“Found it in the drawer next to the bed. Right where I put it. It was dead, so I put it on the charger. I haven’t checked texts or emails in two weeks. That’s crazy. I hope nobody’s worried about me. I’m usually good at replying to texts.”

Jana took the freshly brewed cup of coffee. “You mind if I take this below? I'm going to go check my texts while my phone is charging.”

“Go ahead. I’ve got work to do.”

“You are so sweet. I love you.” Jana stopped in her tracks. It was the first time she’d told Reymundo she loved him. “Oh my God. It’s been a long time since I’ve told a man that I loved him. Even longer since I’ve meant it.”

“I love you too. Now, go check the messages from your boyfriends.”

Jana laughed as she went back down the steps. Reymundo watched her ponytail swing back and forth until it was out of sight.

The main salon was clean. Reymundo’s cleaning job was good, not perfect. In a few days, he’d have a boat full of young girls and a horny Gorgonio. Between them, they were sure to make a mess. When he returned from the final delivery, he’d have the boat professionally steam cleaned.

Reymundo heard the screaming from the flybridge. He bolted down the steps to the main bridge, across the salon, and down to the owner’s cabin.

“No. No. No. That son-of-bitch.” Jana screamed at her phone. “You motherfucker! You piece-of-shit-mother-fucker!”

The outburst reminded Reymundo of the day Jana learned he had purchased the Miss Jana for only seventy-five thousand dollars.

“You okay?”

“No. That motherfucker.”

“Who?”

“My ex.”

Reymundo was afraid to ask what he’d done. She looked more pissed than the day he met her. Her ex must have really screwed the pooch. “What did he do?” he asked, then took a deep breath and prepared himself for the inevitable onslaught of F-bombs.

“The fucker died. Can you believe it? The motherfucker died. I don’t have the details, but the police said he was speeding in his Porsche, lost control, and hit a bridge. Died instantly. That fucker. Why couldn’t he have died a month ago? We’re divorced, and he’s still fucking me.”

“Look at it this way. Had he died while you were still together, you’d have never met me.”

“But I’d have gotten all his money. The house, the boat, the cars. I don’t know how much money he had, he never told me, but it had to be loads. That would be all mine now.” Jana covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh my God. That’s not what I meant. I’m so sorry. Rey, I’m happy we’re together. I mean, he had millions. Just think if we had that money.”

Having Jana and millions would be nice, but Reymundo would take her over the money if he had to choose. “Shit happens,” he said.

“But the timing sucks. I still have some stuff at the house. I wonder if I can go get it. I need to call someone and find out. If not, no big deal. I can’t think of anything I need or want anyway. I’ve no place to put anything. A few of my clothes, that’s all I’d want. Maybe some shoes. I’m not going to worry about it until this shit with Rafael is over. I packed enough to get by on for a while.”

“Yeah, that’s the bigger problem right now. I do not want to deliver more girls into the sex trade. Every time I think about one of them or that poor girl who jumped from the boat, my stomach tightens into knots.”

“Sweetie, why don’t we go to the police? Tell them what happened. Have them meet us here when Rafael comes back. They can arrest him, and we can forget about him. I’ve got the money from the boat. We can cruise over to the islands and live until the money runs out. When that happens, we’ll figure things out. Maybe we could do legit sightseeing cruises in the islands. As long as we’re together and Rafael is locked up, we’ll be good.”

“I’ve thought about doing exactly that. The problem is, what do we tell the police? We used his prostitutes for a cruise, and he got pissed off because they weren’t earning money for him that weekend? Then, to repay him, I took the boat to Cuba, picked up eleven young girls, took them to Galveston, where ten were handed over to sex traffickers, and the eleventh was raped and killed on the way back? I don’t think it would be Rafael going to jail. The boat would be impounded too.”

“What about me? He kidnapped me.”

“He did. Held you against your will, but he’d say you could’ve left any time. Someone probably saw you walk off the dock with him. They’d say it didn’t look like you were being kidnapped. Even if we could find the girls he runs, I bet they wouldn’t testify against him. If a couple of them were tempted, the accidental death of one would shut the others up. I’m sure the cops or D.A. or whoever would figure out what happened, but they couldn’t prove anything. Nope. I told you I’d kill Rafael. I’ve never killed anyone, but it’s the only way to be free of him. I’ll kill that scumbag and it won’t bother me one bit. Gorgonio too. I just don’t know how or when.”

“I know how you feel. I know you said you’d kill them, but I don’t know, honey, is that what we want to do? They could kill you instead. You could kill them but get caught. Just like delivering those girls, you had a good reason, but that’s not going to keep you out of jail. You have a good reason for killing Rafael, but that won’t keep you out of jail either. I love you. I haven’t loved anyone in a long time and I’m not sure I ever loved anyone as much as I love you. I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want you to spend the rest of your life in prison.”

Reymundo rested his head in his hand. “We don’t have much choice. We could untie the boat and make a run for it, but I don’t know what they’re capable of. We might not get ten feet out of the slip before they shoot the boat up, with us in it.”

“Make the next delivery. When you get back, we can decide if we want to go after Rafael and his thugs or just sail off. Put all this behind us.”

“And put another load of girls in their hands? Did I tell you Gorgonio asked Rafael if he could have a couple of extra girls get on the boat? Bring four back, is what he said. He and Nestor would ‘enjoy’ them the entire way back. I couldn’t handle it. I know I’d end up tossing both of those bastards overboard.”

“And your point is?”

“Rafael will have you. I’m sure Gorgonio called Rafael whenever he had service. If he doesn’t check in occasionally, Rafael may hurt you. I can’t take that chance.”

“They put me in an SUV and blindfolded me. I have no idea where they took me. They also searched me. Not well, but I couldn’t have gotten a phone past them. I could take some cash, maybe bribe the girl who brought me food to bring me a phone. If she won’t, at least I’d have some cash. If I could escape, with cash, I could get away. Last time, I didn’t have shit.”

“Do you think you could get some cash past their search?”

“They didn’t do a body cavity search last time. Yeah, I could.”

“Oh.” Reymundo blushed. “But what if you can’t get a phone or escape? Gorgonio can only call Rafael from a few places. We probably had service from Galveston up the bay and back. We wouldn’t have it again until Key West if I got close enough. If not, it would be further up the keys. I doubt Rafael is expecting Gorgonio to call at specific times, but I bet if Rafael doesn’t hear from him within a certain time frame, he’ll come after you.”

Jana lay back on the bed and looked at the ceiling. “And I wouldn’t be able to contact you to let you know I was safe.” She rolled to her side and stroked Reymundo’s back. “If I knew where they were holding me, you could take care of Nestor and Gorgonio, let the girls off somewhere, park the boat, fly back, come get me and take care of Rafael.”

“You make it sound simple. If we only knew where he was holding you.”

“That would involve killing the three of them. We’re right back where we started. You – maybe us, getting killed or going to prison. If we wanted to risk it, we could kill them now.”

“You’re right,” Reymundo said as he lay on the bed next to Jana.

“So, deliver the girls, come back, and we will disappear.”

Reymundo closed his eyes and shook his head. “I don’t want to deliver those girls into that life.”

“Sweetie,” Jana said softly. “Maybe it’s not so bad. They’re coming from a crappy life in Cuba. Maybe, just maybe, they’re getting pimped out to some nice guys. Yeah, they have to have sex with them, maybe even some kinky stuff, but probably nothing worse than that mother-you-know-what ex of mine – may he rot in hell – made me do. Or tried to make me do. The girls we hired for the frat cruise were trafficked. I didn’t realize it. I thought they were strippers that would have sex. They seemed happy while they were on the boat.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that one Rafael beat up was real happy.”

“You know that’s our fault. My fault. Had I not hired them, she wouldn’t have been beaten up.”

“What about the two who ran off with the frat boys?”

“Maybe the guys asked them if they wanted to go with them, and the girls are all okay now. It’s possible. Guys can fall in love with ex-strippers, you know.”

“Okay, it might not be horrible for them. I just don’t like the idea. If they wanted to do that of their own free will, fine, who am I to judge? But if they’re being forced into it, that’s not right. You said you were forced to...uh, do things with your ex you didn’t want to do. When you had enough, you were able to leave and you left. A few weeks too soon, but you left.”

“Thanks for reminding me. That son-of-a-bitch. He couldn’t die when we were married.” Jana paused. “But I see your point. Yeah, I had a choice. They don’t, and I didn’t get the shit beat out of me when I left.”

Reymundo pulled Jana close and held her, then rolled onto his back, pulling her halfway on top of him. His breathing eventually slowed and steadied.

“I have an idea. It might work,” he said. “It just might work.”